Farmers in Zimbabwe have for many years been forbidden to cultivate fertile wetland areas known as vleis, ostensibly in the name of protecting the environment. This paper analyses how local people and extension agents have responded to a deeply unpopular policy put in place by the colonial government, and maintained even after independence. The study covers two contrasting areas: Chivi in the south, where the State almost succeeded in suppressing the cultivation of vleis, and Mutoko in the north, where there was strong local resistance to the ban on this activity. The paper also highlights the marked difference between the policy concept and its implementation on the ground.